Patrick Ritchie’s Front-Row Seat to His Son’s Rookie Year in the NHL

After every one of his hockey games, Cal Ritchie and his father Patrick hop on the phone to talk about it. They discuss every shift, every detail and every stat.

“I love doing that,” Patrick Ritchie said. “I love the stats, I like understanding the bigger picture. He’s the same way, he’s a student and is always learning to get better.”

They had a lot to talk about after Ritchie scored a beauty on Saturday night – as the 20-year-old went between-the-legs to score a power-play goal in the third period, which held as the game-winner in a gutsy 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The father-son duo can have their post-game debrief in-person this time. Patrick accompanied Cal for the New York Islanders for the dads and mentors trip in Florida.

“It gave all of us a boost for sure, having our dads in the building,” Cal Ritchie said after the win.

Patrick fostered a hockey household for Cal and his older son, Ethan. He drove them to the rink six or seven days a week, watched them play any chance he could and even coached them when they were kids.

“He’s always busy with work but he always finds a way to watch my brother and I play hockey,” Ritchie said. “He really enjoyed the spring hockey tournaments and the early mornings. It’s just really cool to have parents that sacrifice so much for you when you’re a kid.”

Their house in Oakville, ON, certainly had signs that it was home to two young hockey players.

“We shot pucks in our garage a lot and we used to shoot on our driveway when we were kids,” Cal Ritchie said. “And we’d miss the net and smoke our garage doors all the time. It was a disaster, there were so many puck holes on our garage door.”

Patrick has long accepted it, as a banged-up garage door simply comes with the territory of being a hockey parent.

“The back of the garage is all broken up, but it’s part of the experience, right?” Patrick Ritchie said.

Patrick has supported Cal through the highs and lows of his career, providing him with encouragement and a boost of confidence when he needs it.

“He keeps me grounded,” Cal Ritchie said. “Like sometimes you have frustrations about your game, you think you’re not playing as good as you can. He understands how hard I am on myself, so he keeps me level-headed sometimes, he helps me understand that I’m living out my dream, to enjoy it.”

Patrick Ritchie helped his son navigate the initial shock when he was traded to the Islanders before the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, when the then-Avalanche prospect heard of the news around midnight on a road trip for the OHL Oshawa Generals. Ritchie got an important phone call the day after, which he told his dad all about.

“[Islanders Head Coach] Patrick Roy called him the next day to welcome him to the team,” Patrick Ritchie recalled. “He said to him, I got to see your first goal against us, now I want to see you score goals for us. From then on, Cal was just like, this is my team.”

Now 19 games into his career with the Islanders, the offense are starting to ramp up following a foundation of a strong defensive game. Ritchie potted his third goal of the season for the Islanders on Saturday, and as big as the goal was, simply watching him play makes his dad reminisce about where it all started.

“Whenever I watch him play, I think about when he was a kid and just starting to learn to play,” Patrick Ritchie said. “It’s amazing. For him being a rookie, this is a unique year so it’s nice that I get to share this experience with him.”